


some days we’re stronger than others

by falmarien



Category: The Sisters Brothers (2018)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 11:01:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17445656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falmarien/pseuds/falmarien
Summary: The first time Eli thought Morris might not be so bad was because of the toothbrush.





	some days we’re stronger than others

**Author's Note:**

> \- title from a line in the movie  
> \- based solely on the movie

The first time Eli thought Morris might not be so bad was because of the toothbrush.

Charlie had never bothered to take it seriously. He didn’t care about having a fresher breath at all; he preferred to be able to taste his last cigarette, probably. Then again, Charlie had never thought much about Morris. He said Morris was pretentious. Eli wasn’t sure what that said about himself. He sure wasn’t pretentious; he sure hadn’t even considered himself anywhere near pretentious. Was this what pretentious meant? He didn’t see what was wrong about wanting to make life a little better, even it was a small thing like this. And if being pretentious was about using strange words, then Charlie could very well be pretentious too.

Anyway. The toothbrush was a wonder. He would have to ask Morris where he got his some other time. He wondered if the powder thing was the same for Morris. Did it hurt for him too, just a bit?

Morris didn’t talk much. Eli didn’t know too much about him, actually. They had worked together once or twice in the past, but it was fast and impersonal, never this far, never this out in the wilderness. They hadn’t even had a proper meal together, come to think of it. From the start Charlie and Morris had this hostility thing going on—well, it was Charlie who started it, but Morris also picked up on it real fast. Eli was starting to figure it out: Morris got the one thing Charlie couldn’t stand. Indifference. Charlie couldn’t fathom the idea that he knew of them and didn’t care enough one way or the other, added to the fact Charlie already didn’t like the fact that the Commodore would give some jobs to Morris, that Morris could do what they couldn’t, even if Charlie thought less of him because he didn’t kill.

Eli didn’t. At least, he didn’t think so.

Morris got a reputation of a man who got the job done, of being efficient, and Eli could respect almost any man who got his job done. It was just that their paths seldom crossed each others’, and Morris’ more often than not didn’t have this much noise.

Until this time, of course. Eli knew more than anything else how to spot a fighter, and he could see Morris knew how to handle himself, not great but enough, he wouldn’t have survived this long in this line of work if he didn’t, but everyone would be distracted if they got an extra body to worry about.

//

The first time Eli thought Warm was a nice man wasn’t that far from first meeting him, but nice itself didn’t matter all that much if he hadn’t had Morris with him. If things went as planned they would’ve got the formula out from him and shot him then and there, and things wouldn’t be that different from some other jobs they had done.

The young man was not what Eli had expected. He was amazed that Warm managed to survive long enough to meet Morris, to be honest, as Warm obviously had no survival instinct when it came to real men, no matter how smart he was supposed to be with numbers and chemicals. He might be a prospector, but he couldn’t possibly have stolen something from the Commodore. Eli just couldn’t see it. Warm was too thin to be a good fighter, within the first ten minutes of meeting him it was clear he wasn’t familiar with the weight of a gun, and he didn’t have that gleam in his eyes that desperate men had, the one that made them dangerous. Where Morris didn’t talk, Warm definitely talked too much, too soon, and too trusting. Eli wasn’t sure what to make of him.

//

The first time Eli stopped to think what sort of a man Warm really was, it was after Tub died.

Like he told Warm, he didn’t expect it to affect him like this. That was probably why he even told Warm about it. Warm didn’t mock him, didn’t change the subject for the sake of changing the subject, didn’t offer him empty words for comfort.

This was what Eli was beginning to learn about Warm: he didn’t speak empty words. As much as it often sounded like daydreams, it was never empty. He always said it like it meant something, and Eli liked that.

//

The first time Eli thought Morris and Warm might look like family was when he heard Morris saying goodnight to Warm, his back to them, still exasperated but oddly mild as well. 

Or oddly fond, perhaps. W&M. They had a name like Charlie and he had a name. They had known each other less than a month, and already they could move past disagreement with ease, didn’t bring their temper to bed. They were like a family. A nicer one than any of them had a chance to know before.

// 

It was indeed better, facing up to things. Even Charlie was changing, and they were cutting off trees in the heat without anyone pulling out their gun, Morris and Charlie were starting to talk to each other about things other than food and gold, and Eli felt better than he had in weeks, working enough to sleep but without the mess and inconvenience of blood and bruises, the complications of their previous life.

Then for the first time Eli saw Morris and Warm as potential friends. It was the dead of night, Charlie was coming down from the hill, and all he could hear was their laughter, and the little pine logs dancing on the fire. Eli took another gulp from the bottle being passed around, a flicker of hope warm in his stomach. This could be good. They could be real fine.


End file.
